Rotary Coghweel | 06.11.2015

Representatives of the Eagan Rotary Club would like us to consider offering an ethics workshop to select juniors and seniors at Northfield High School.

Tom Wilson, retired Eagan High School principal, and Bill Lindberg, former Northfielder and member of the Eagan club, said their club developed this initiative 21 years ago and has shared it with some 30 schools across Minnesota.

They use a curriculum developed by University of St. Thomas business faculty to introduce student leaders to ethical thinking and ethical decision-making. Tom said it is delivered in the spirit of Rotary’s four-way test.

“That four-way test is what we teach, what we preach and what we help the kids understand,” he said.

The workshop consists of lectures, videos and discussion. But the real learning happens when the students are assigned corporate roles in fictional businesses and asked to wrestle with real-world ethical dilemmas. The kids give it an approval rating of 90 percent.

Bill and Tom are suggesting we schedule for the fall and deliver to between 36 and 48 juniors and seniors. The cost is roughly $1,500. It is important to have a champion of the project in the club to ensure success. Many schools do a workshop every year.

“If leaders lead ethically, others will follow,” Tom said.

Mini-Classification:

Vicki Dilley will soon become the director of Project Zawadi, a nonprofit that supports education of vulnerable children in Tanzania. It is a nonprofit associated with Access 2 Tanzania, a tour business she has worked for over the past two and a half years. Good luck, Vicki.

— Vicki Langer is looking for correspondents for our 18 outbound students. If you are interested, talk to her.

— Bruce Hall, a member of a Rotary Club in Iloilo City, Philippines and a cousin to our own Brad Frago, thanked the club for donations that helped with recovery efforts following a typhoon in 2013.

— President Rich is seeking input on the idea of offering a “business club membership.” This would allow firms to spread participation among several representatives. There is some precedent for this in Rotary clubs, but not many, he said.

— Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin announced that a permanent Guatemalan counsel will be opening in St. Paul soon. It will serve 20,000 Guatemalans now living in Minnesota and those living in Wisconsin, Iowa and the Dakotas.

— District 5960 Rotary Friendship Exchange is happy to announce an exchange to Nagpur India from January 9-20, 2016. You can find additional information on the www.rotary5960.org website under program – Friendship exchange. Applications are due October 1, 2015.